Mike Bowden Archives - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

When DC Comics announced it was launching a series based on its popular Ame-Comi line of figures, I don’t think I heard a single person say, “Yes! I was hoping for that!” The Ame-Comi collectibles can be imaginative and attractive (some more than others), but no one was clamoring for a series that sexualized DC’s superheroines even more overtly than they already are. In fact, the most common responses were either head-scratching or eye-rolling, depending on how much the person thought DC has legitimately tried to reach out to female readers lately. But then the creators were announced.

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray write the series and Amanda Conner drew the first couple of installments, which were serialized digitally first, 10 pages at a time. Putting the creators of the well-regarded Power Girl series on Ame-Comi Girls was a smart move and convinced a lot of readers who otherwise would have dismissed the comic – including me – to give it at least an initial look.

DC Comics kicks off its return to digital comics beginning Monday with the debut of the anime-influenced series Ame-Comi Girls. Based on a series of statuettes released by DC Collectibles (formerly DC Direct), Ame-Comi Girls features some of DC’s top female characters redesigned both in story and style to be more like anime and manga. DC says the new series’ first story arc shows the heroines fighting off a female Brainiac and a gang of “bad-girl” supervillains.

According to The Source, new weekly chapters will be available for download each Monday, with five individual character arcs — Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Duela Dent, Supergirl and Power Girl — leading up to a united Ame-Comi Girls series.

What makes this extra interesting is the talent behind the digital-first project: Co-writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are joined by a great assortment of artists like Amanda Conner, Tony Akins, Ted Naifeh and Sanford Greene.

This series will be joined in June by an anthology-style Batman series that the publisher pointedly says will be outside of “DC Comics continuity.” The creators involved on that is a treat as well, from the inspired pairing of Damon Lindelof and Jeff Lemire to B. Clay Moore and Ben Templesmith.